In the course of this fourth visit to the French overseas territories, the CPT visited 19 police and gendarmerie establishments, three prisons and three hospitals (see full list below) in November and December 2023. 

The vast majority of persons interviewed made no allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials. However, the CPT reiterates the importance of using no more force than strictly necessary during arrests, and of training officers in techniques for de-escalating violence. It also calls for the eradication of the practice of attaching detained persons to fixed objects, such as rings or chains. The exercise of certain fundamental guarantees was particularly challenging in French Guiana, notably due to the difficulties in accessing remote areas.

Material conditions of detention in law enforcement establishments remain a source of concern. Cells were often dark, unhygienic and suffocating. They were frequently overcrowded, forcing some people to sleep on the floor, without mattresses, or to use the toilets in full view of others. In addition, the gendarmerie persists in holding people in police custody at night in premises with no supervision or call systems.

As regards the treatment of persons transporting substances in corpore ("body-packers”), the CPT notes that the arrangements for recovering drug capsules were often inadequate, or even amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Prison overcrowding was widespread in the three prisons visited, with occupancy rates exceeding 225% in some wards. A large number of people were forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor, sometimes with their heads next to non-partitioned toilets, in cells offering only 2 to 3 m² of living space per person. Material conditions were generally deplorable and dilapidated. Building management was particularly difficult, exacerbated by the heat and humidity.

Concrete measures are needed to ensure that minors are detained in conditions which respect their needs and, notably, that they do not come into contact with adult detainees. In addition, the activity regime offered to detainees, and minors in particular, was largely insufficient.

Detainees did not, on the whole, report any ill-treatment by prison staff. However, allegations of verbal abuse, including shouting and derogatory or racist remarks, were received in the three establishments visited. Inter-prisoner violence, including attacks with homemade weapons causing serious injury, was a significant problem, with acts of violence and intimidation linked to trafficking and extortion.

The CPT is also alarmed at the excessive number of detained persons suffering from severe mental health problems, who do not belong in the prisons visited. The Committee deplores the inadequacy of resources, in particular the lack of appropriate facilities and dedicated supervision and care teams.

The CPT notes the efforts made by the French authorities to address these issues. However, these efforts are not reflected in the reality of detained persons, who continue to live in unacceptable conditions which compromise their health and safety and which may amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. This situation cannot continue.

In the closed adult units and child psychiatry units of the mental health facilities in Guadeloupe and French Guiana, no allegations were received of mistreatment of patients by staff. By contrast, episodes of violence between patients were not uncommon, but staff interventions were swift and effective.

Patients' living conditions were generally good. However, the CPT regrets the practice, in both Guadeloupe and French Guiana, of placing patients suffering from acute psychiatric pathologies requiring immediate care into general hospital emergency departments. Such placements could last for periods of up to four days, before patients could be transferred to a psychiatric unit adapted to their needs and offering appropriate treatment. While in the emergency departments, patients were frequently tied to their beds or stretchers, using straps or, sometimes, makeshift restraints (Jersey straps), and often in full view of other patients. The CPT believes that such practices are likely to constitute a violation under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Committee also notes that the establishments visited were understaffed at all levels, preventing the staff present from offering a therapeutic programme adapted to the state of health of their patients. The CPT notes with concern the conditions of hospitalisation of "difficult" patients, who could be placed in isolation for long periods. Despite the dedication of healthcare staff, keeping people in isolation for long periods of time is a highly questionable practice. Furthermore, judicial review of restraint and seclusion measures was not in place in the establishments visited. Worryingly, such measures were renewed without a court order, and there was a notable reluctance on the part of medical staff to comply with court orders to lift them. 

In the immigration detention centres (centres de rétention - CRAs), no allegations were received of ill-treatment by staff members of detained foreign nationals. However, the CPT considers that the living conditions in the two CRAs visited are unsuitable for stays of more than 48 hours.

In their response to the report, the French authorities provide detailed information on the CPT's recommendations. They reiterate their desire to improve consultation between stakeholders in the criminal justice system in order to refine the treatment of detainees and, in particular, to reconcile the effective enforcement of a prison sentence with individual fundamental rights. They underline that no form of violence should be ignored and no lever for improving the situation underestimated. They inform the Committee of measures planned for prisons, and police custody and immigration detention facilities, to remedy the inadequacies in their material conditions and improve practices relating to isolation and restraint, as well as of the necessary amendments to psychiatric care facilities.

In Guadeloupe, the delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:

Law enforcement establishments

• Point-à-Pitre Police Station
• Basse-Terre Police Station
• Capesterre-Belle-Eau Police Station
• Saint Claude Gendarmerie brigade
• Morne-à-l'Eau Gendarmerie brigade

• « Abymes » immigration detention centre

• Point-à-Pitre Court holding facilities

Prisons

• Basse-Terre remand prison
• Baie-Mahault Prison

Health establishments

• Guadeloupe public mental health establishment (closed units in sectors 1 to 3 and sectors 4 to 6, unit for children, and reception and crisis centre)
• Emergency services at the Centre hospitalier de Basse Terre (CHBT) and the Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) in Pointe-à-Pitre
• Secure facilities at the CHBT and CHU.

In French Guiana, the delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:

Law enforcement establishments

• Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni border police facilities
•  Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock border police facilities
•  Félix Eboué International Airport border police facilities
•  Cayenne Police Station
•  Kourou Gendarmerie Brigade
•  Mana Gendarmerie Brigade
•  Régina Gendarmerie Brigade
•  Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock Gendarmerie Brigade
•  Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni Gendarmerie Brigade

•  Cayenne-Rochambeau (Matoury) immigration detention centre
•  Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni immigration detention premises

• Cayenne Court of Appeal and Judicial Court holding facilities

     Prison

•  Rémire-Montjoly Prison

Health establishments

•  Psychiatric unit ("Wapa" and "Comou" closed units) and the unit for children ("Acajou") of the Andrée Rosemon hospital in Cayenne (CHC)
•  CHC emergency services
•  CHC secure facilities.

• Read the report in French, in English (unofficial translation)
• Read the summary of the report in French, in English (unofficial translation)
• Read the response in French only
• Visit news flash
• The CPT and France